Dead Until Dawn
by HellsAngel22
Summary: Its hard to move on from something you weren't meant to let go. Misty is a trapped rich girl,due to marry a man she doesn't love. And then along comes Ash, who saves her, and together they forge a new life, one that the Waterflowers will end-at murder?
1. The Trapped Life Of Misty Waterflower

This is my ... well not my first pokemon fanfiction, but it is my first to be posted on HellsAngel22, I used to be the author, PikaDarkness. I had quit to spend time working on creating stories to be published, and I wanted to get myself a new account, as it gave me a clean slate. And if you have read my stories on that site, you'll be amazed at how much I have grown as a writer. I left PikaDarkness site about ... gosh, two years ago now. I'm happy to be back.

Okay, so Dead Until Dawn came to me when I was watching Titanic, and I thought it was a lovely idea. But its not going to be about the sinking of a ship, and it won't be melodramatic fluff, this does have a plotline, and a rather huge one at that. I do hope that you will stick with me through it.

**Warning; **Do not read if your under fourteen years of age, this deals with strong matters that might not be suitable for anyone under that age limit. Deals with abuse (physical and emotional), bits and pieces of incest, sex, violence (gore to a certain extent) and matters that--if one has been through any of the things on the list, would find upsetting.

Dead Until Dawn

Chapter One

The Ark pulled out of the dock, steam billowing into the air. The Ark ... a poor taste in name choicing, Misty figured, but she didn't say anything about it. She had been raised to be polite, and had heard the 'women should be seen, and not heard' line too many times in her seventeen years of life. She was supposed to be a proper lady, and Misty still had to figure out what a proper lady meant.

Pulling out of Cerulean City, they were heading for the Johto region. Misty's mother, Clarice Waterflower, had still yet to tell them where the ship would end up, saying that it was more of a family surprise. Family, that word was laughable when describing the Waterflower's, at least to Misty's ears it did.

The Waterflower family were high in the rankings out of all of the regions in the Pokemon world, they were diplomatic, wise and above all; important. John Waterflower, Misty's father, was more of a business man than an actual father, that alone had them climbing the corporate ladder in under a year, a feat that had the family name becoming a common interest in gossip. John Waterflower was a banker, worked for the Royal family (and had an income of about a million dollars per year). Clarice used to be an actress, her movie roles always earning her a high income. But once meeting her husband, she became a housewife, a mother, and overall one of the most respectable women in society today. Daisy, Lily and Violet were as narrow minded as their parents. They, and Misty, went to the elite 'bitch school', as Misty referred to it. It was actually somewhat of a boarding school for girls, learning how to cook, clean and most importantly; honour their future husbands. And, it even came with the old fashioned book-on-the-head-when-walking-downstairs. The guarranteed way to look like a complete idiot, while 'cleaning up your posture'. Misty found it funny that an all-girl school unisex teachers. The triplets loved going to that school, Misty, however, didn't.

Misty stood on the boat deck, watching the ocean with an expressionless face. Her hunched posture would have earned her a lecture, and a rough hand to pull her up into the straight-backed posture that all women had to have. In all her life, Misty never experienced freedom. Everything she did was always for someone else. It was why she had the ring on her finger, the engagement ring ... at only seventeen years old.

Her fiancee was at least twenty-two, very rich, very well known. And in Clarice's eyes, there was no finer man around for her youngest daughter. Jack Lovegood was travelling with them, and despite being engaged to Misty, he wasn't truly in love with her. It was arranged by her parents, Misty had no say in the matter whatsoever.

Jack had allowed her some time to herself, as he didn't like to be around her much, only in the public eye where he thought that it truly mattered. Daisy, Lily and Violet were all married off, and they were almost ready to graduate from the boarding school that November, and they were lucky. Their husbands loved them, the way they treated the triplets ... it was more affection than Jack would ever show Misty.

Misty was trapped, unable to do anything without putting shame on the Waterflower name, unable to make her own choices because she was an upperclass, highly looked after young woman. People who weren't as high up didn't have to worry about this kind of thing; women were treated with as much respect and responsibility as the men were. All Misty wanted was to find someone who loved her--truly. Someone who wasn't just putting it on for the public eye.

"Straighten up, Misty," Clarice warned, joining her youngest daughter. "I don't know how many times I have had to tell you about that. You must remain--"

"Respectable," MIsty broke in knowingly. She had heard it too many times before. "I know, mother. I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Yes it would. It always did.

Clarice watched the ship break through the calm waters. "I don't understand why you just can't accept this life, any woman would choose to be as higher up in the rankings. To have whatever they wished. Jack is--"

"Not what I want," Misty broke in, she and Clarice had had this argument too many times before. "And I'm not like all those girls, I want something more."

"This is all that there is," Clarice replied sternly, she had been trying to rub that in since Misty was young, but her youngest had some kind of fire beneath her, and she refused to believe it. "This is all there ever will be for you."

"I'm not like you mother, I won't let this be my life."

Casting a glance around the boat deck, Clarice was noticeably worried that someone would hear them arguing trivial matters, like they were some mangy lower class mutts. Those women in their disgusting clothes, in their disgusting cars and homes.

"You've got no choice," she told her daughter in an angry, hushed whisper, leaning in so it wouldn't be as loud. "You will do as you are told, end of discussion."

With that, Clarice pushed herself away from her daughter and made her way back to their cabin. Misty looked down, a lone tear rolling down her cheek, her hands running down the dress she was wearing, the form-fitting, midnight blue dress. Once that tear dropped, along came another one. She knew it would be unwise to stay on the crowded boat deck if she were going to cry, it would arouse unwanted questions, and could get her family into a lot of trouble.

Taking a deep, shuddering gulp of air, Misty regained her composure, and decided it was time to return to her cabin. Jack was about as sympathetic and understanding as Clarice, and did not greet Misty with a hello or a smile. He just looked up from his reports, saw her come in, and then looked back down as if she had never noticed she had come in.

"How is it coming along?" she asked, unable to stand the silence betweent them.

Still not looking up, Jack replied, "Slow."

Misty sat down beside him, smoothing out her dress. In fact, it wasn't coming along slow, Jack was nearly done. "Anything I can do to help?"

"No thank you, not with this. You can go unpack. The bags are over by the corner."

Typical, the man works to create a living, the woman works to make the man happy and rested. Biting down on her lip, Misty nodded and rose to her feet, going to get the backs and start on the unpacking. It would take at least a week to arrive at their destination. And they would not be spending it like some poor person, their stuff locked away as if there were no room for their clothes and belongings.

By the time Misty was finished packing everything away, Jack had completed his reports for the government of Kanto, and placed them in a plastic sleeve so they would be protected until they arrived back in Cerulean city to deliver them. He didn't trust the other postal services very much. Cerulean city was the 'high cities', the only poor people passing through were Pokemon trainers, looking to earn the Water Badge. In fact Cerulean City was the highest ranking rich city in Kanto, Fuchasia City and Lavender Town coming just behind. Pallet Town was the poorest by far.

"You finished?" Jack asked, and Misty nodded. "Good. I'm going out for a walk, join me." It was not a question.

"I can't, I'm not feeling very well," Misty lied, the truth was that she didn't want people to see her, not like this. Not with Jack, they would call them lovebirds, wish they had a husband like Jack, wish that they were Misty. She couldn't have that, she couldn't bear to see that, when it felt like her whole life was controlled by her family and her fiancee. "Maybe ... I can join you later?"

Jack did not like the sound of that, it was almost like he knew Misty was lying to him.

"Fine," he relented, though he didn't sound like he really mattered at all, it was a window into their supposed love. "I will see you when I get back." Because men didn't have to set time limits like women did, men didn't have to come back like women did.

Once the door shut, Misty slumped, her back muscles were getting tired of always staying straight, her feet hurt from the high heels she had to wear. Her heart was hurting from having to put up with all this each and every day of her young life. Things surely had to get better, right?

* * *

Pulling into the docks at Indigo Plateau, Misty was quick to get off, not having to worry about her bags was a blessing in disguise; it meant that she could get away from everything much more quickly. Misty knew better than to wander off, though, it would get her into a lot of trouble, so she just stood in the shadow of the ship.

"Quick attack, Pikachu!"

Standing just ten feet away from Misty, was an exuberant sixteen year old boy, two of his own Pokemon battling against each other. A Pikachu and a Sceptile. Both seemed pretty high level. The boy had jet black, fly-away hair. Wore a black t-shirt and long denim jeans. Misty watched as he shouted dodge to his sceptile, and she realised he wasn't trying to hurt either one of his pokemon, he was making them spar against each other so they got better at attacking and defending.

As if the boy could sense her watching him, he turned his upper body around to face her. Misty froze in place, ignoring everyone else who was getting off the ship around her. She thought the boy would have been upset at seeing her spying on him, but a broad grin pulled on the features of his face, and he raised a hand at her to wave. Hesitantly, she waved back, he looked at her as though they were great friends. And then he turned back to his waiting Pokemon.

"Agility, Pikachu! Bullet seed Sceptile," the boy shouted even more lively than before.

Misty watched in amazement. The way those pokemon just obeyed him, and not because they had to, but because they wanted to. And when Pikachu took a few too many bullet seeds than it could handle, both the trainer and Sceptile rushed in to see if Pikachu was okay. They were friends.

The Pikachu was back on it's feet, and seemed to have recognised an unknown onlooker that was Misty. Instead of getting angry or upset, the little mouse pokemon scampered off, much to the surprise of its trainer.

"Hey! Pikachu where are you going?"

Pulling out the pokeball, he recalled Sceptile and gave chase to Pikachu, who scaled Misty like a tree and started licking the giggling woman's face. The boy was laughing himself as he jogged to a stop.

"I'm sorry about this, Pikachu really likes people," he apologised, holding out his arm to Pikachu, who jumped on, maneuvering itself so it was standing on the boy's shoulder. "Oh, and my name is Ash Ketchum."

Uh, oh. He must have realised how rich and important she and her family was, and started being a little too overpolite.

"I'm Misty Waterflower, nice to meet you. You're an awesome trainer, you know?" Misty said, trying to sound as carefree and informal as she possibly could. It was tough for someone who had been raised to care and be formal, but then again, she had never put in the actual effort of learning such qualities. "How do you get them to just obey you like that? Does it take a lot of work?"

Ash smiled, looking so free that Misty envied him. "No, we're just really great friends. We all work on trust, right buddy?" He winked at Pikachu, who chirped a happy response to that statement. "What about you? Do you train pokemon?" And then he looked down at her apparel, and then decided no, she did not.

"Unfortunately, no. Wait ... you're Ash Ketchum, _the _Ash Ketchum from all those league competitions? Your the one who won the Orange Islands trophy a few years back, right?" Misty asked, getting over excited about meeting someone from t.v that she had been rooting for since he first appeared. "Oh, my gosh."

Ash laughed again, the laugh suited him perfectly. "Yeah, that's me all right--"

"Misty!" Great, it had to be at that moment when Jack arrived, curling his hand into Misty's, who looked away, ashamed. "Thank God I found you darling, I thought you just ran off on me."

Oh, if only ... If only.

Looking over at Ash, Misty gave him a sad smile. Ash was looking back at her, as though he could see right through the walls she was hurriedly building, right into the pain and lonliness she felt. And then he looked over at Jack, who was showing the fake affection because there was company around. Company who was not worthy of being in their presence, but he would not make a scene with so many witnesses. Jack would not put a black spot on the family name.

"I should ... get back to training," Ash muttered, turning away.

"Yes, go back to training that ugly rodent," Jack muttered, though it was loud enough for Ash to hear, who paused momentarily looking like he wanted to deck Jack real badly, but thought better of it and walked away. Not without Pikachu's cheeks crackling in warning to Jack.

Man, just when Misty met a guy who was actually really nice to her, and wasn't hot and cold like Jack was, someone had to come along and ruin it for her. She could have nothing that she really wanted, she never came first anymore.

"What were you thinking?" Jack demanded, being none too gentle in pulling her off, his grip on her arm hurting. "Talking to someone like ... to someone like him."

"Face it," Misty sneered, her usual snark coming back to her in an instant. "You know that poor guys are way better gentlemen than you, and your jealous of them. Doesn't really help that they have bigger and better dick's than you do."

Taking her in the privacy of a nearby tree, Jack backhanded her across the face, her red hair flying as the impact snapped her head to the side. "You will not talk to me like that, do you hear me? I won't take it."

And with one last distasteful glare in her direction, Jack pushed Misty from him and walking away, smiling and nodding his head to Madam Lucille.  
**To Be Continued . . . **

If this bothered you, you should have read the warning. This isn't a children's story. This deals with issue's that can be quite disturbing and upsetting, and no doubt you'll have your opinions about what I'm writing. But I will continue it. Oh, and not for the faint hearted either. Don't read if you throw up easy. Please review.

And I hope my warnings don't put potiential faithful readers off reading this ... you can make up your own minds. :)


	2. Needing An Out

Hi! Thanks for the response, guys! I really appreciate it.

To **(un-named) **Thank you, that is exactly what I plan to do. Thank you for the awesome review.  
To **-silentwriter- **I know, I wanted to create a story that has a lot of historic realism in it. Its nice to know I haven't been flamed yet for the abuse that's coming. There will be pokemon battles ... lots of gore and stuff in everything else, I love that. And I'm all for detail, so everything will be in authentic detail (yes even the upcoming sex scenes). If you feel uncomfortable with any of that, I shall put up a warning (see below teehee).

**Warning; **Sexual harrassment (if only vague).

Chapter Two

Their expensive bach on resided right off the beach, which was a good thing. It meant that Misty could just stay at the beach and be within their sights ... okay, that wasn't a good thing. Not at all. Kicking off her heels, Misty launched them as far across the beach as she could, grunting from the effort it took to get them as far from her as she could.

"I am Misty Waterflower, strong and independant woman ... I am Misty Waterflower, strong and independant woman ... I am Misty ... I am a worthless freak, pitiful and low. Not worthy of any attention."

Because who was she to think she was strong and independant? She was letting asshole's like Jack walk all over her. She needed to grow a backbone and leave ... but go where? It wasn't like she had a wide range of family that would take her in, and her friends were more like school aquaintances, they wouldn't do anything for her. She had no one outside her family and Jack.

Staring out into the ocean for a moment, Misty screamed in rage and pain, spinning around in a circle and then dropped to her knees in the sand, her hands clutching at her hair. Tears spilled freely out of her eyes, and she was glad that the beach was deserted, she hated to think of her punishment should anyone come out and gossip about her being so unlady-like. As she sat there, the afternoon sun was beginning to set, and the night wind picked up her long, curly red locks. With a shuddering breath, she looked up into the setting sun, her wet, sticky cheeks gleaming.

Misty knew she needed that reprieve, to break down. No one could go on like this forever without needing to crack from the pressure. Not even firey red-heads with alarming tempers. Even she had to crack sometime. She was not made of steel, she would never be invincible.

Once the sun had fully gone down in its bed of ocean, Misty slowly pushed herself to her feet, retrieved her heels and walked back to the bach, in no hurry to actually get there. Lily was the first person she saw when entering.

"You haven't seen Matthew have you?" Lily asked, peering around Misty's shoulder as if he would be right there. "He was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago."

Misty smiled. "Nope, but even rich guys can be late. Especially when meeting up with people with the last name 'Waterflower' ..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lily demanded, her eyes flashing in anger. "Matthew would never want to avoid me!"

"Oh, of course he wouldn't," Misty muttered under her breath, walking around her sister to get to her room. At least Matthew loved Lily, Misty got stuck with a two-faced douchebag. That douchebag was sitting infront of the television as she passed to get changed.

And all Misty had were dresses, dresses, skirts, and dresses. For once, she wanted to wear shorts ... or jeans. And she always liked the looks of those converses and heavy boots. But until she could get out of this fucked up life of hers, those kinds of things weren't happening any time soon. So she got dressed in a sundress, as dinner had not been served, and thus it was too early to get into her passionately hated nightgown.

"Misty!"

Jesus fucking Christ-- "What!?" she shouted at Jack, who pounded on the door enough to make the windows across the room shudder. "Do you mind, I'm getting dressed." Not to mention she was still a minor and could charge him for paedophilia or something. Being an excessive pervert.

"Dinner is ready!" he called back, not sounding pleased with her attitude toward him that day. And maybe that hit across the face hadn't gotten rid of all his anger at her.

Go shove it up your ass, douchebag, Misty thought savagely, though she put on a fake smile when she answered the door. "Alright, I'm coming. Just give me a few moments, okay?"

Jack didn't say a word to her, and just walked away. Misty made a stabbing movement with her hand, and pulled a childish face at him. What would she give to murder him right the and there? Everything. Life without Jack Lovegood would be pure bliss. Misty could even go to jail if it meant Jack Lovegood wasn't walking on planet earth with her anymore. She didn't even what to know the bastard. But it seemed that sexism was constantly around too much in the upperclasses, and Misty would be sentenced to the electric chair for her crimes. Not even Jack was worth that. He deserved to die, she didn't. And it would all be because she was a woman, and not a man, which--in some people's eyes--seemed to make all the difference in the world. Women should supposedly only be seen in the kitchen baking for their husband. Fuck off, that was not going to be Misty's life. She'd figure a way out of it.

Dinner was the same as usual, the same mindless chatter and narrow-minded people. The table of regulars aquired three new people; Matthew Reynolds, Paul Macqualie and Steven King. The triplets husbands.

Misty remained quiet, and when she was asked what she did that day, the first thing she thought of was meeting that Ash Ketchum boy, who had treated her better in the five minutes they'd known each other, than anyone else had in her seventeen years.

"Nothing," she replied softly, keeping her eyes down at the table.

Not being able to tell her family anything was what made Misty feel more trapped than ever. Not being able to confide in anyone made her feel alone. Everyone treated her like she was selfish and cruel for having her own dreams made her feel unloved, unwanted. Misty couldn't even begin to think about how many times she wanted to take her own life and be done with all the bullshit. Yet something stopped her everytime, and it was just all so unfair.

Violet talked about some 'poor' old woman doing her groceries, how she kept dropping the tins she was carrying, and accidentally dropped one on Daisy's foot, which had been bandaged ... just for one lousy bruise. Everyone except Misty expressed and felt shock and concern for Daisy, and Steven King wrapped an arm around her shoulders and planted a loving kiss on her cheek. Misty felt burning envy at her sister, glancing over at Jack, who had persisted his stone cold silence toward her since she got down there.

Misty was the first to excuse herself from the table, one of the maids that had arrived there a day earlier grabbed her plate and went to wash it, making Misty feel bad. She didn't like it when other people did things like that for her. Heading to her room, Misty took off the dress, flung it in a corner and put on her nightgown. Ugh, she was sick of wearing crap like this, she couldn't remember how the hell she had put up with this for so long. Getting into bed, she turned off the light and wiggled onto her side. It didn't take long before she was asleep.

Something was inching up her thigh, something tickling the skin that made Misty re-awaken what felt like only minutes later. She moved her leg, hoping to get rid of it, but it was still there, still climbing up her leg. To get it away, Misty opened her eyes, if she knew what it was, it would help. Looking down, she practically screamed and moved away. It was not a bug, but now she wished it were.

Jack was hovering above her, his hand had been travelling up her thigh. Jack had been demanding for sex ever since Misty turned sixteen, and wanted to be the first one to take her virginity away. It looked like he was done waiting for her to be ready.

"What are you doing?" Misty demanded, although she knew quite well. She tried to push herself away, but he caught hold of her leg and dragged her closer. "Let me go, Jack! I'm not ready. Let me go!"

But Jack wasn't going to let her escape his clutches so easily. He was a twenty-two year old man, why was he so interested to bed a seventeen year old? Misty allowed him to drag her back, and then swung her hand up to slap him in the face, and he flinched. That was all Misty needed, and she pushed off the bed heading right for the door. Jack recovered from the slap quicker than she thought, and leaped forward and grabbed her by the hair, stopping her dead in her tracks and made a scream burst from her lips.

"Don't you dare do that to me!" Jack growled, throwing Misty from him, and she landed in a bundle on the bed. He walked forward and tried to pull her underwear off, but Misty fought back, earning herself a hand to the face. "You don't get to deny me this."

"Get off me!" Misty panicked as her underwear made its way down her thighs. "Piss off!" She managed to kick him in the balls, an action that made him fall to his knees in pain. "I do get to deny you this!" And she drove her knee into his chin, and he fell back toward the ground, unconscious.

Misty was half blinded by tears, she stumbled over to her cupboard and pulled out a longer dress, remembering to pull up her underwear first. Dragging the dress on, she ran out of the room barefoot, pushing past her father and running out the front door. The sand slowed her down a considerable amount, but that hardly deterred her determination. She had to get as far away as she could before Jack came around. Misty didn't know where she was going to go, but it had to be far, and somewhere they wouldn't look for a little while.

In her blind need to get away, Misty ran headlong into someone, knocking her off balance, tripping over her own feet and sent her headlong into the sand. The figure she ran into stumbled a bit too, but unlike Misty he could stay up on his feet.

"Miss? Are you alright?"

That voice sounded horribly familiar. "Ash Ketchum?" It amazed Misty that she could still remember his name.

"Misty Waterflower?" Ash asked, and he extended a hand down to her, which she took, surprised that he pulled her to her feet so gently. "Are you alright? Why are you running? Is something wrong?"

Without hesitating, Misty threw herself into Ash's arms. Already he had proven himself to be trustworthy. "Hide me, please," she begged, needing to get away for a while, and they never expected her to be at Ash's--if they even knew who Ash was.

"W-what?" Ash faltered, and Pikachu mirrored his confusion. "Misty, what's wrong?"

"Misty!" came her mother and fathers voice on the wind.

Misty cringed. "Please, I will explain later, please just don't let them get me."

Knowing something was seriously wrong, Ash did hide her, re-taking her hand and pulling her off.

"Come on, its this way," he said, and together they ran down the end of the beach, right down to Ash's less expensive bach. Fumbling for his keys before opening the door, he ushered Misty in first. "Now, what's wro--is that a handprint on your face?"

He turned on the light and stepped closer, putting a gentle hand under her chin and turning her face. Misty allowed it, because maybe--just maybe--he cared enough to help her out. Ash hissed as the bright red handprint on her face became more prominent.

"Who did that to you?" he demanded softly.

"Fiancee dearest," Misty muttered, holding up her hand with the ring on it. "He wanted sex, I didn't, he ... he tried to force me."

Ash frowned. "You can't be much older than I am, how come you're going to get married?" he asked, before turning away to draw the curtains closed. "Is it an arranged marriage? I heard that's normally what rich people do."

Pikachu leapt from Ash's shoulder, scaled Misty and began licking her red cheek, like the cute little pokemon was trying to heal it. The little sweetheart. Misty raised her hand and petted the mouse pokemon.

"Yeah, I got dealt the unlucky hand in husband choices," she commented dryly. "I got a twenty-two year old controllive douchebag."

"Twenty-two?" Ash muttered. "You've got to be, what, sixteen? Seventeen?"

"Yahtzee."

Ash raised his eyebrows. "Shit ..." He shook his head, wondering how something like that could possibly work out. "So he tried to ... you know ... and you got away how?"

"I kicked him in the nuts and knocked him out with my knee to his head," Misty told him, smiling. "And then I got out and ran into you. Which reminds me, its eleven o'clock at night, what were you doing out there?"

Looking impressed, Ash replied, "I couldn't sleep, I thought a walk on the beach would do me good." He shrugged, and an easy smile washed over his face. "Which is a good thing, otherwise little old you would still be running through the beach. You probably wouldn't have made it far, though your family seems to be looking for you quite hard."

"That's because I have to be a sensible and proper daughter, and stay with them, I'm marrying Jack so the family can earn more money. As if we didn't have money beforehand," she scoffed, rolling her eyes, looking up to meet Ash's concerned ones. "They benefit from my pain, they don't care if I get beaten every other week, just as long as they rake in the moolah, they'll be satisfied."

Looking at her for a moment more, Ash walked past her to the living room. "That's just ... That's sick," he muttered, beckoning Misty to follow him. "You can stay here for as long as you like, okay? I won't make you go back to them."

This bach was different from Misty's, different layout, as it hadn't been as expensive as Misty's. Clarice had invested in a bigger, better beach house. It was only because of the triplets pleading that got them renting out that beach house. Misty was amazed that someone was actually siding with her, and not forcing her to go back to her bach, telling her as a woman it was her duty to put up with everything that went wrong. And that as a woman, she shouldn't complain that a nice, wealthy man wanted to marry her and look after her.

For some unknown reason, Misty had the distinct impression that she was coming home. That was odd, as it had only been several hours ago did she actually meet Ash. Not enough time to get those 'coming home' feelings.

"Um, you can do whatever you want, I don't mind," Ash muttered, biting his lip, and then pointed to a door to the left of Misty. "Just through that door is the kitchen, you can take what you want from there. And through that door," he pointed to one infront of them, "is the hallway that leads to the two bedrooms. I'll show you the spare later, okay? Correct me if I'm wrong, but ... you don't want to go to sleep yet, do you?"

Misty shook her head, everything had gone by so quick that she still needed to get her head around it all. It was mindblowing. And not to mention that it made her wide awake now, and sleep would be nearly impossible.

Ash had seated himself down on the two-seater lounge, making sure there was room enough for Misty if she wanted to sit down and watch television with him. Slowly lowering herself in the seat, Misty soon realised that Ash didn't expect or want her to be a proper lady, and for that she was grateful, slumping in her seat was the biggest relief in the world. Honestly, standing straight all day had started to make her back muscles ache again, and that could hardly be anything good. Ash switched the television on and put it on one of those old murder mystery shows.

Misty could so see herself as the dead person.

**To Be Continued . . .**

Well, if you guys are starting to hate my point of views ... I am a sixteen year old feminist, it hurts me to write these things, but that's not going to sway me :) Tell me what characters you want in this story, too, and I'll see what I can do to work them in.

Reviews equal love!


	3. The Special Place

Thank you to all my reviewers.  
-silentwriter- Wow that was one long review, thank you for being so opinionated. It really helped a lot, and for you, Gary will be included, and I hope I can make him exactly how you suggested he could be. Brock ... I agree _later chapters. _Maybe a bartender in a lesbian club? That would be HILARIOUS! And I agree, women and men can never be equal, we're just ... polar opposites.

To anyone else who did review in private, they never showed up in my inbox, and I'll have to check my homepage :) Cookies for all of you!

I'm going to start adding bits of lyrics into the story now, with the song in the Author's Notes. I hope you don't mind :) Some of them are from bands like; Evanescence, Paramore, Metallica, ACDC, Linkin Park and a whole lot more!

I'm sorry that I haven't posted for a while. Internet access has been short lived.

* * *

Chapter Three

It felt so surreal waking up in Ash Ketchum's bach, the way that everything was so much more comforting and homely than anything Misty had ever experienced. Ash didn't come in and tell her to wake up, bark orders at her, demand for her to do things she didn't want to. In fact, it surprised her when she woke up at eleven in the morning, five hours after the time she normally had to get up everyday.

The smell of pancakes wafted up the stairs to meet her nose. Pancakes, she never had those, but she knew the smell. In her cooking class up at the boarding school for women, they were taught how to make them. But they never got the chance to eat them. Misty was eager to try some, and she pushed herself out of the bed, smoothing out her crumpled dress and tried to remember the directions Ash had given her to the kitchen.

It looked like Ash had only just woken up as well. All his pokemon were in the living room chowing down on their own breakfast, while Ash stood in the kitchen, flipping the pancakes over. He looked up and smiled. "Morning, Misty," he greeted her, another thing that shocked her.

"Morning Ash, smells delicious."

Ash laughed. "They do now, I never used to be able to cook before. My mum had to show me how to cook when I was ... ah, about thirteen, fourteen at the very least. Trust me, these would resemble ashes if I didn't get taught."

Misty laughed as well, though she didn't know what to do with herself; should she go help, or should she just go sit down like some kind of expectant, lower class woman. The second option sounded a lot more appealing, but she didn't want to do the wrong thing and get herself kicked out. Misty was starting to like it here.

"You can sit down, Misty," Ash told her, as if he knew what she was thinking. "These will be ready in a minute, okay?"

Misty nodded and sat down at the table. This was why she envied the lower class; they had it much more easier, and were a whole lot nicer than the upperclass. Ash then placed the pancakes--the hundreds of them, it looked like--on a plate, put it on the table and fished out two more, smaller plates. He then crossed to the fridge and pulled out the maple syrup.

"Take as many as you want," he permitted, and then frowned. "You're not used to this, are you?"

Looking up, Misty shook her head honestly. "No, I'm not. Normally, I have to wait until the men get their share before I can get any. That's if there's anything left to properly go around. So, I'll just wait for you to--hey, what are you doing?"

"Dishing you up some breakfast," he replied, dumping a lot of pancakes on her plate, and drowning them in maple syrup. "With me, I don't expect you just to go hungry while I eat. You take as many as you want when they are on the table. Hell, you can slouch, chew like a cow and burp real loudly. I won't mind." Misty laughed at that, the thought of herself doing such things was laughable, but she really wanted to do it, that was the thing.

"You do realise its going to take a while to get used to this, don't you?" Misty asked, accepting the knife and fork that was handed to her, and started slicing into the drowned pancakes. They were absolutely freakin' delicious. "I wasn't raised as a lower class girl, I'm not wild and carefree ... at least, not really. I'd say kneeing my fiancee in the face was pretty wild. But ..."

Ash set down his knife and fork and looked at Misty patiently. "I don't expect anything from you, Misty. You don't have to be proper, you can ... do whatever you want. We're friends, friends don't have to act a certain way for their friends."

Friends? Misty had never heard that word come from anyone who wasn't related to her. Misty's friends were just girly girls who tended to make the day pass by quicker. Misty had never met anyone as friendly and carefree as Ash.

"Yeah, we're friends," she whispered, unable to wipe the smile off her face.

After breakfast, it was Ash who washed the dishes, something that also made Misty feel a little odd. Knowing that he had told her she could do whatever she wanted in here, she went into the living room to watch television, waiting for the reprimand that never came. Morning t.v wasn't as great and exciting as it was at night, so she settled for a show called Oprah. Misty found that she liked it, and Ash settled down on the lounge to watch with her.

After the show had finished, Ash turned to Misty. "You want to go for a walk?"

Well, the real answer was yes, but Misty was a little worried that she would get caught and dragged back if she did. Again it was like Ash could read her mind, like she was some kind of open picture book.

"It'll be fine, they won't see you ... and if they are out, we'll come straight back. Besides, I know a secret spot where people don't normally look." He stood up and held out all his pokeballs. "Guys, return!" A red beam of light shot out from the balls, hitting each Pokemon who retreated back into their solitary once more.

Misty stood up, figuring it was better if she just did as she was told, and not disobey him. Force of habit, and such. It was something she just couldn't shake. Misty had no problem swimming in the dress she had on, she never did like it much anyway. Though it costed nearly the amount it would cost to buy a television. She had plently of these back ... Damn it. At some point she would have to go back to get more clothes, but then, they would hardly let her escape their clutches again. Especially Jack, who would probably want revenge for what she did to him ... though it was justified, considering what he had tried to do to her.

"I won't have a spare change of clothes," she pointed out, and then waited for Ash to shout at her, maybe even hit her. He didn't.

"Don't worry, I'll lend you a spare change of clothes from my draw, and I'll run the dress in the dryer, come on," Ash said, taking her wrist and pulling her out, though it was purely in a friendly way.

Ash's secret place was through some nearby thicket of trees and bushes, they could hear the sounds of the ocean still, which meant they weren't lost or heading too far away. Misty had to admit that she was really excited to see what hidden place of Ash's was. Their footsteps--Misty's barefoot ones, too--rubbed up against all kinds of things, and yet she never complained about it, as it didn't hurt as much as other things she had walked on. But even she couldn't keep her mouth closed forever.

"How long until we get there?" She kept a firm hand clutching Ash's, especially when bits of the earth gave out from underneath her feet and made her stumble. "Are we going in the right direction?"

"I've been here for about a couple of weeks already," Ash replied, liveliness etched in his words. "I know my way around her pretty easy by now. In fact it was Pikachu who found this place, after chasing Cyndaquil through here."

"Pikachu!" Pikachu announced proudly, flashing a peace sign. And then turned around to where he was perched atop his trainer's head.

Silence dragged around them as Ash bushed branches out of their way, holding some of the bigger ones back so Misty could get through. Though it wasn't like she couldn't do it for herself, though out of habit, she kept her mouth shut. She had also been taught never to snap at a man, that the man was always right, and the woman had to accept that, otherwise it was the woman that was wrong.

Finally pushing the last branch out of the way, Misty gasped at the sight before her. As a rich girl, she saw lots of beautiful things daily, but none of them had the power to take her breath away. Not like this, she had never seen anything like this before.

"Ash," she gasped, stepping forward into the clearing, "where did you find this?"

Before her sat some kind of hidden lagoon, large rocks were embedded deeply in the ground around the lagoon. Several water pokemon--Misty's favourite--were having a refreshing swim, the water must have been solar heated, because mist seemed to cling in the air, making the air a little more crisper. A few leafy plants hung over the water, perspiration running down the spines. It truly was amazing. Misty turned around to Ash in wonder, who reached up to scratch the back of his neck with an awkward laugh. At his feet, Pikachu was shaking his head with an amused expression.

"Funny story, I kind of ... uh ... stumbled in," Ash explained evasively, obviously a touchy subject. "I was battling some trainer the other day, when my Sceptile got knocked out--literally. Into me, and I flew through these bushes and ended up rolling in here. Its been mine and my pokemon's hideout for about ... ooh, maybe a couple of weeks now?"

"How long are you staying here?" Misty asked, almost afraid that it wouldn't be as long as she was staying; she was really starting to like Ash.

"About a week and a half," he told her almost apologetically.

Misty wasn't angry about that, she was more upset than anything. A week and a half would fly quickly, and she would be on her own to face her 'family'. She still wasn't keen on using that word when it came to describing them. Misty plastered a smile on her face and moved forward. Some of the water pokemon were surprised at her approach, but others were keen and trustworthy, staying in place in order for her to pat them.

"This is really a beautiful place, Ash," she said, patting a Totodile who was very keen on being touched. "You know, when you, erm, leave ... I could envision myself staying here for a while, just to get some kind of escape."

What she didn't know, was that was exactly what Ash had been thinking when he decided to show her. After all, he couldn't sleep on the sand when his bach had to be given to someone else. He wanted to make sure she had a safe place to go in her own troubling world. Hey, someone had yet to say that he was a bad friend, he did almost anything he could for people, and Misty was no exception to that rule.

"Misty!" came a familiar shout from the distance.

Jack.

**To Be Continued. . .**

Sorry for the long wait! I decided to cut the chapter I had planned into two parts, so that it would be uploaded quicker. I hope you guys are still interested.


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